1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed generally to communication jacks.
2. Description of the Related Art
Communication jacks incorporating Retention Force Technology (“RFT”) are commercially available from Leviton Manufacturing Co., Inc. and described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,786,776 and 6,641,443, which are incorporated by reference herein in their entireties. For illustrative purposes, FIGS. 4 and 2 of these patents have been reproduced herein as FIGS. 1 and 2, respectively.
Turning to FIG. 1, the aforementioned patents describe an electrical connector jack 10 that includes a dielectric housing or body 12 and a plurality of resilient contact tines 14 (see FIG. 2) arranged in a parallel arrangement within an interior receptacle 16 of the body. When a conventional plug 18 having a plurality of metal conductive plates or contacts 20 is inserted into the receptacle 16, the contacts 20 are in contact with corresponding ones of the tines 14. The tines 14 each have a first end portion 22 fixedly attached to a printed circuit board (“PCB”) 24, and a second free end portion 26 opposite the first end portion 22. Between the first and second end portions 22 and 26, the tines each include a first contact portion 28 and a second contact portion 47. The first contact portions 28 are arranged in the body 12 to be contacted by the contacts 20 of the plug 18 when the plug is inserted into the receptacle 16. The second contact portions 47 are located between the first contact portions 28 and the first end portions 22.
When the plug contacts 20 contact the first contact portions 28 of the tines 14, the contacted tines are moved by the plug contacts 20 in a generally downward direction, with a small rearward component, as the tines flex downward in response thereto. Each of the tines 14 is sufficiently resilient to produce a first generally upward force against the corresponding plug contact 20 in response thereto. This serves as a contact force between the tine 44 and the plug contact 20 to help provide good electrical contact.
A spring assembly 32 is mounted to the PCB 24 in a position below the tines 14. As best seen in FIG. 2, the spring assembly 32 has a pair of protrusions 34 which are inserted into apertures in the PCB 24. The spring assembly 32 includes eight resilient, non-conductive spring arms 44, each positioned immediately under a correspondingly positioned one of the tines 14. A head portion 45 of each spring arm 44 is in contact with an underside of the second contact portion 47 of the tine, the underside being opposite the side of the tine contacted by the plug contact 20. Each of the spring arms 44 is positioned to have the head portion 45 thereof engaged by and move downward with the correspondingly positioned tine 14 as the tine moves downward when the plug 18 is inserted into the receptacle 16.
Each of the spring arms 44 is independently movable relative to the other ones of the spring arms, and each spring arm provides a second generally upward force on the correspondingly positioned tine which is transmitted to the plug contact 20 contacting the tine. This creates a supplemental contact force that causes an increased contact force between the tine 14 and the plug contact 20. For the sake of brevity, the benefits of the structures of the jack 10 that are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,786,776 and 6,641,443 are not repeated herein.
While not described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,786,776 and 6,641,443, referring to FIG. 3, the performance of the jack 10 may be improved by the addition of crosstalk compensation components. For example, in the drawings, the tines 14 include eight separate spaced apart contacts or tines J-T1 to J-T8 arranged in series. The center-most tines J-T3, J-T4, J-T5, and J-T6 may be connected to a flexible PCB 50 having crosstalk attenuating or cancelling circuits formed thereon configured to provide crosstalk compensation. The flexible PCB 50 may include contacts 52, 54, 56, and 58 configured to be soldered to the centermost tines J-T3, J-T4, J-T5, and J-T6, respectively.
In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 3, the spring assembly 32 (see FIGS. 1 and 2) is implemented as a non-conductive plastic spring 60 constructed (e.g., molded) as a single piece instead of from two separate components (e.g., the first portion 46a and the second portion 46b described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,786,776 and 6,641,443). However, the spring 60 is configured to function in a manner substantially similar to that of the spring assembly 32 and to provide the supplemental contact forces to the tines 14 that causes an increased contact force between the tines 14 and the plug contacts 20. Thus, the current technology uses a non-conductive plastic spring (e.g., the spring assembly 32 or the spring 60) to help generate sufficient contact force between the tines 14 and the plug contacts 20 (see FIG. 1) and a flexible PCB (e.g., the flexible PCB 50) to provide electrical crosstalk compensation.
The jack 10 (see FIG. 1) may be assembled by first pressing the tines J-T1 to J-T8 into the PCB 24 at appropriate locations within the circuits located on the PCB 24. Then, crosstalk compensation is added to the jack 10 (see FIG. 1), by soldering the contacts 52, 54, 56, and 58 of the flexible PCB 50 to second free end portions 26 of the center-most tines J-T3, J-T4, J-T5, and J-T6. Next, the soldered connections are washed to remove excess solder material (not shown). The non-conductive plastic spring 60 or the spring assembly 32 is connected to the PCB 24 below the tines T1 to J-T8 to provide the supplemental contact forces thereto. The tines J-T1 to J-T8 (and the non-conductive plastic spring 60 or the spring assembly 32) connected to the PCB 24 are inserted into the body 12 (see FIG. 1) and extend forwardly into the receptacle 16. Then, the PCB 24 is affixed to the body 12.
Thus, a need exists for jacks that provide both adequate contact force between the tines and the plug contacts and electrical crosstalk compensation. Improvements in manufacturability of jacks may reduce their cost of assembly and a reduction in the number of components may improve reliability of the jacks. Therefore, a jack that includes fewer components than prior art jacks and is easier to assemble than prior art jacks is desirable. The present application provides these and other advantages as will be apparent from the following detailed description and accompanying figures.